May 29, 2011

Gordon Beckham will live

The White Sox have dodged a bullet with second baseman Gordon Beckham, who will miss just a day or two after being struck under the left eye by a relay throw.The incident happened in the third inning of Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays, when Alex Rios’ relay from center field took a high hop behind second and hit Beckham in the face. Beckham labored on the field momentarily before leaving the game and going to hospital with the team’s head athletic trainer, Herm Schneider, for X-rays.

The results of the X-rays were negative, and now the team will just wait for the swelling to go down around Beckham’s eye before he can rejoin the lineup.

“I feel fine, other than the bruise. The bruise is the only thing that hurts,” Beckham, who is sporting a black eye, said on Saturday. “I can see fine. I think that once the swelling goes down, I’ll be back in there. I don’t know if that’s [Sunday] or Monday.”

Beckham continued to receive treatment on Saturday morning in order to relieve some of the swelling that is preventing him from fully opening his injured eye. He said he hopes to take batting practice and maybe even play on Sunday, but Monday might be a more realistic target.